Flexible tongue buckle



Aug. 18, 1925. 1,550,411

G. ABRAHAM FLEXIBLE TONGUE BUCKLE Filed Dec. 3, 1924 INVENTOR NEY Patented Aug. 18, 1925.

UNITED STATES GABRIEL ABRAHAM, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

FLEXIBLE TONGUE BUCKLE.

Application filed December 3, 1924.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GABRIEL ABRAHAM, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, borough of Manhattan, in

the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and use ful Improvements in Flexible Tongue Buckles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to buckles adapted for connection either permanently or detachably to dress belts, such as are commonly worn by men andboys and has particular reference to a device constituting certain novel and distinctive improvements over the constructions described and claimed in my two co-pending applications, Serial No. 749,371, filed November 12th, 1924-, and Serial No. 752,091, filed November 25th, 1924.

Among the important objects of this improvement is to provide a flexible tongue buckle having an unusually flat construction for maximum neatness and wearers comfort when the belt is applied and worn.

A further object of the invention is to provide a tongue buckle having a spring or flexibly connected anchor member or loop, the parts of which are adapted for. peculiarly easy and cheap assemblage and yet with utmost reliability of connection after assemblage.

ith the foregoing and other objects in View the invention consists in the arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed, and while the invention is not. restricted to the exact details of construction disclosed or suggested herein, still for the purpose of illustrating a practical embodiment thereof reference is had to the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters designate the same parts in the several views, and in which Figure 1 is a face view of a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the same about on the line 22 of Fig. 1, the belt being indicated as attached.

Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section about on the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a rear elevation of the same construction as in Fig. 1, but with the spring under compression.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings I show my improved buckle as comprising two principal parts, namely, the

Serial No. 753,549.

frame 10 and anchor member 11, with the addition of the tongue 12 carried by and co-operating with the frame.

The frame may be of any suitable design or construction but indicated as of generally rectangular form with open end. spaces for the passage of the belt, and extending across from side to side of the frame is an interior frame structure 18 comprising two substantially U-shaped members 13 the two legs of each of which are formed integral with a side rail of the frame, but with their crotch portions 13 spaced parallel to each other adjacent to the centerline of the buckle and between which the tongue lies and operates. he two frame members 18 are connected by a pivot member 13 upon which the tongue is pivotally mounted at the rear of the center of the buckle. The two legs of the U.-shaped frame members provide bearings 13 on the forward side of the center of the buckle. The auxiliary frame structure 18 may have any convenient elevation with respect to the plane of the main frame, but as shown especially in Figs. 1 and 3, the auxiliary frame is dropped materially below the main plane of the frame for the sake of flatness of construction, the drop being indicated at 13 providing a convenient passageway or pocket for the free end of the belt B. By this arrangement the belt is permitted to pass through the buckle frame in approximately flat form. This fact is materially increased also by providing a relatively sharp bend or curve at 12 in the tongue adjacent to its point where it co-operates with the front bar of the frame.

The anchor member to which the anchor end B of the belt is connected in a loop 14 is composed of two relatively slidable plates 15 and 16 each in co-operation with the other constituting a casing for an expansion spring 17 of the general type more fully set forth in the co-pending applications above referred to. Sufiice it to say, however, for this particular specification, that/the spring is of approximately flat rectangular form in practice and is housed within the casing in such a manner as to tend to hold the plates in substantially the relative positions shown in Fig. 2, one end of the spring bearing against an end flange 16 of one plate, while the other end of the spring bears against a similar flange 15 of the other plate. The loop 1a is formed preferably as an integral part of the plate 15.

The plate 16 is provided at its forward end with a pair of loops or bearings 18 preferably stamped from the same plate and bent around the bearings 13 of the frame, making positive pivotal connection between the frame and said plate 16.

Connected to and preferably constituting integral portions of the plate 16 are smooth longitudinal converging side flanges 16 so formed as to occupy planes at acute angles to the main portion of the plate and with their free edges deflected toward each other, forming an undercut passageway or pocket within which the lateral diverging flanges of the other plate are nested and have slidable interlocking ngagement. The form of these several co-operating pairs of flanges provides that there can be no direct lateral separation of one plate from the other, but with relative freedom for one to slide endwise with respect to the other against the force of the spring 17, and with the least possible likelihood of any part of the buckle catching or snagging the wearers garments.

From this construction it follows that the assemblage of the casing parts is a ver simple expedient as follows: The spring 17 is applied against the plate 16 and its end flange 16". The flange 15 of the other plate is then applied against the other end of the spring and the plate 15 is slipped from the front of the buckle directly into place as shown in Fig. 2, the flanges 15 sliding at this time lengthwise along the inner face of the flanges 16. hen this nested position of the parts is reached, a tongue 19 formed as a part of the plate 15 is bent outward at substantially a right angle to the plate and against the outer surface of the flange 16' of the relatively stationary plate. This lug or tongue 19 thereafter serves two purposes,first, as alug or member preventing undesired separation or sliding of the plate 15 forward from normal position under the force of the spring, and secondly, it serves as a stop to limit the returning movement of the plate 15 after the spring has been put under tension, the lug at this time striking against the flange 16 ()verstretch of the buckle or rearward movement of the plate 15 to too great a distance with respect to the plate 16 is prevented by the spring.

It will thus appear that the buckle shown and described herein is possessed of unusually neat and attractive appearance, and

because of the flatness of the construction is unusually comfortable to the wearer. The fact that the loop 14 for the anchor end of the belt extends rearward beyond the rear end of the frame adds to this function or advantage of the construction.

I claim:

1. In a belt buckle, an open ended frame comprising a plurality of bearings, a tongue pivotally mounted upon one of said bearings and extending thence forward across the center of the buckle, an anchor member and connections between the anchor member and other of said bearings and extending thence rearward beyond the center of the buckle.

2. In a belt buckle, an open ended frame including an auxiliary interior frame extending across between the side bars of the main frame and comprising a plurality of bearings, a tongue pivotally mounted upon one of said bearings and extending thence forward across the center of the buckle, an anchor member, and connections between the anchor member and other of said bearings and extending thence reamvard beyond the center of the buckle, the anchor member being composed principally of two plates having interlocking sliding flanges arranged at an oblique angle to the plates, and a spring housed between the plates.

8. In a belt buckle, an open ended frame including an auxiliary interior frame extending across between the side bars of the main frame and comprising a plurality of bearings, a tongue pivotally mounted upon one of said bearings and extending thence forward across the center of the buckle, an anchor member, and connections between the anchor member and other of said bearings and extending thence rearward beyond the center of the buckle, the anchor member comprising two relatively movable parts each having an end flange directed toward the other, an expansion spring located between the members and bearin against said end flanges tending to hold the plates with their ends coinciding with each other, one of said plates being movable relatively to said open ended frame and the other being stationary relatively thereto, and a stop member carried by the rear end of the relatively movable plate and adapted to bear against the relatively stationary plate, sul stantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

GABRIEL ABRAHAM. 

